app Custom Keyboard Layouts for F(x)tec Pro1

[Slion 1,200]

I just published what's basically a modified variant of FinQwerty called Fx Qwerty with focus on Pro1 usability.

Edited February 17, 2020 by Slion

[lameboyadvance 98]

Those would be some handy key additions, is that on top of the 'standard' FinQwerty additions (PgUp/Dn/etc)?

...Also, how does US International differ from a standard US QWERTY keyboard? Some of your key combos would be handy for me but I use the US standard QWERTY layout.

[Slion 1,200]

3 hours ago, lameboyadvance said:

is that on top of the 'standard' FinQwerty

Mostly.

 

3 hours ago, lameboyadvance said:

Also, how does US International differ from a standard US QWERTY keyboard?

I'm thinking the difference is only with hidden characters, the ones you access through Fn or shift modifiers. Fx Qwerty emphasis is on WYSIWYG so all printed characters are accessed as with stock layout.

I could add US QWERTY, though if you don't usually use hidden characters it won't make any difference.

Edited February 17, 2020 by Slion

[Hook 2,907]

This isn't a criticism, just a statement of personal preferences.  I much prefer the natural flow of having shift reassigned to, well, shift, for the number row and such, not only because that is what I'm already trained to do, but because the shift keys are easier to use than the Fn (arrow keys).  The color coding doesn't even really enter into my thinking.

I'm not asking you to do this-- I already have that with FinQwerty.

I know several people have been wanting the F Keys, so I imagine there are going to be folks quite happy with your efforts.  It's great to see the continuing community efforts to support this phone.  Part of the attraction for me. 🙂

Edited February 17, 2020 by Hook

[Slion 1,200]

16 minutes ago, Hook said:

The color coding doesn't even really enter into my thinking.

My main problem with FinQwerty was that you need to use one modifier to access the yellow prints on some keys and another to access the same yellow prints on other keys. That somehow screwed with my brains 😁

[Slion 1,200]

22 minutes ago, Hook said:

I know several people have been wanting the F Keys

Those could easily be integrated back in FinQwerty.

[Slion 1,200]

I'm considering remapping the FxTec key to a modifier so that it could be used with Key Mapper to launch any application. Using hard coded key combinations to launch default applications like what was done with Fn + Space to launch web browser could be great too.

[Slion 1,200]

Does someone know the scan code for that FxTec key?

[EskeRahn 5,399]

1 hour ago, Slion said:

Does someone know the scan code for that FxTec key?

It sends keycode_home afaik

[Slion 1,200]

41 minutes ago, EskeRahn said:

It sends keycode_home afaik

Of course, that's the keycode it is mapped to defining its functionality. However I need the hardware scancode in order to override that functionality.

[EskeRahn 5,399]

58 minutes ago, Slion said:

Of course, that's the keycode it is mapped to defining its functionality. However I need the hardware scancode in order to override that functionality.

Should be available in the generic.kl i guess? or any vendor .kl ? see this

generic says 102, and so does all the others I checked.

[Slion 1,200]

50 minutes ago, EskeRahn said:

Should be available in the generic.kl i guess?

Good call. It's 172 actually.

[Slion 1,200]

Just published v0.0.3

See what changed.

 

Edited February 19, 2020 by Slion

[wilhelmfitzpatrick 47]

Would it be possible to remap a key (the FxTec key perhaps) as a SEARCH key that would work with the existing Android global shortcuts mechanism?

[Slion 1,200]

1 hour ago, wilhelmfitzpatrick said:

Would it be possible to remap a key (the FxTec key perhaps) as a SEARCH key that would work with the existing Android global shortcuts mechanism?

Interresting, I'll have to give it a try.

[Slion 1,200]

26 minutes ago, Slion said:

Interresting, I'll have to give it a try.

@wilhelmfitzpatrick I'm not sure what's that search key. I tried it as SEARCH but the advertised shortcuts are not working.

[wilhelmfitzpatrick 47]

@Slion yes, I've not been able to dig into this very far yet. I found:

https://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/KeyEvent.html#KEYCODE_SEARCH

...but I'm not sure if that's the right thing either.

[Slion 1,200]

5 hours ago, wilhelmfitzpatrick said:

@Slion yes, I've not been able to dig into this very far yet. I found:

https://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/KeyEvent.html#KEYCODE_SEARCH

...but I'm not sure if that's the right thing either.

That's the one I tried. No joy there. To be honest I'm not impressed with those default shortcuts anyway. The ones offered in v0.0.3 make just as much sense. 

[Slion 1,200]

My favorites from those new shortcuts are the media controls. Being able to turn music on and off at anytime, skip tracks and adjust volume is just very cool 😎 That's some descent audio rendering on Pro1 with those stereo speakers. 

Edited February 19, 2020 by Slion

[Slion 1,200]

I'm planning to refactor and expand to various Qwerty layout variants.
As it was inherited from FinQwerty some characters can only be accessed using two modifiers which is very unpractical on a thumb keyboard.
We will try to make sure all characters can be accessed using no more than a single modifier.
In the spirit of WYSIWYG the printed layout will remain very much as intended by F(x)tec design.
Fn keys will provide access to yellow prints.
Shift will provide access the uppercase or hidden characters which are variant specific.
Alt will provide access to hidden characters and some device functionality such as brightness adjustment.
Fx key provides access to F1-F12, default applications and media functionality.

Typically each key provides up to four characters accessed using corresponding modifiers as illustrated below

______________
|            |
| fn   shift |
|            |
| base   alt |
|____________|

The first of those new layout will be French Qwerty.
http://marin.jb.free.fr/qwerty-fr/

However, once the basics are in place it should be easy to integrate other variants.

[EskeRahn 5,399]

2 hours ago, Slion said:

I'm planning to refactor and expand to various Qwerty layout variants.
As it was inherited from FinQwerty some characters can only be accessed using two modifiers which is very unpractical on a thumb keyboard.
We will try to make sure all characters can be accessed using no more than a single modifier.

Rememeber that Ctrl and YellowArrow are next to each other on both sides, so the combo is easy to do with one finger. That is why FinQwerty uses Ctrl+YA as a 'doublet' of Sh+YA

[Slion 1,200]

I just released version 0.1.0

See: https://slions.net/resources/fx-qwerty.7/update?update=12
I still need to update the description but basically all US layouts should provide you with stock behaviour plus extras.
Shift alias layouts lets you access most Fn characters using Shift too.
Alt typically gives you access to some international characters and dead key. Much like on stock plus extras. It also does navigation Back and Forward.
Fx key is not the Home key anymore but a modifier giving you access to default apps, F1-F12 and media functionalities.
Just do Fx+H to go to Home/Launcher.

Edited February 22, 2020 by Slion

[brunoais 317]

@Slion, can I get you also interested in this layout?
https://github.com/anssih/finqwerty/issues/12

Or maybe you can work directly with the owner of FinQWERTY and make a better product overall.

This one looks good!

[Slion 1,200]

@brunoaisIs this what you need? 
Which language is this for? 

[brunoais 317]

18 minutes ago, Slion said:

@brunoaisIs this what you need? 
Which language is this for? 

I made that one thinking on many romance languages. ES-ES, ES-* (all the latin-America), FR-FR, IT-IT, PT-PT,  PT-BR, PT-* (All portuguese variants). I also throught about having it compatible (dunno how viable) with all romance languages in South Europe.

Maybe for ES-* I'd swap the "ñ" with "ç" on the dedicated key on the right side.

That URL is not working. I think this BB breaks those URLs

Edited February 22, 2020 by brunoais
Being more detailed + typos